Delay as detective meets the resistance (6)
I believe the answer is:
dither
'delay' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'detective meets the resistance' is the wordplay.
'detective' becomes 'di' (Detective Inspector abbreviation).
'meets' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'resistance' becomes 'r' (electronics abbreviation).
'di'+'the'+'r'='DITHER'
'as' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dither that I've seen before include "trembling condition" , "Faff about" , "Be indecisive, hesitate" , "Hesitate indecisively, vacillate" , "Stew" .)